Why and How 01: KeyCue for Mac

Why and How.

We’ll be sharing about items of value whose purpose determines their usefulness. You’ll find great books, tools, recommended practices, devices, apps, services, and more. We’ll start with each one’s “Why,” then show “How” it can help in your life or work.

The sea is wide open and the wind is at our backs so let’s set sail, shall we?

__________

KeyCue for Mac

Are you a newcomer to the Mac platform? Are you an aspiring power user looking to increase your productivity? Either way, here’s a handy tool just for you: KeyCue.

Why: KeyCue saves your valuable time by teaching you quick keyboard shortcuts on your Mac. If you add up all the time spent using your mouse or trackpad to handle simple and repetitive tasks, you’d be surprised how much time is wasted. KeyCue shows you what shortcuts are available so you can use them instead and save time. And it’s just a button click away—within any app.

Want to get more done with less effort? Of course you do. Follow along!

KeyCue in Action

How: Once installed, KeyCue is ready to help. If you hold down a defined key for one second (we use the Command key), an overlay window like the one above appears on your Mac desktop. On the left side of the screen shot above you can see highlighted in orange the available keyboard shortcuts. In this example it’s showing the ones for Google Chrome.

Legend of Keys

Note the legend right below the KeyCue window in the screen shot above, highlighted in orange. It shows which symbols are associated with the Command, Alt, Shift, Control, Space, Escape, and Backspace keys.

If you’re new to using a Mac, this legend can help you to remember which key is which.

App-Specific Guidance

Here KeyCue is showing keyboard shortcuts for iTunes, just by holding down the Command button for one second. Notice that KeyCue can be set to appear partially transparent—helpful when you still want to be able to view the app you’re using underneath the KeyCue window.

To hide KeyCue, simply let go of the Command button. Easy-peasy.

Complete Shortcuts and Theming Options

For you power users, witness KeyCue’s thoroughness in the screen shot above. Knowing and using the many available keyboard shortcuts (in this example, for the Develop Module in Adobe’s Lightroom app) really speeds up your work flow. KeyCue also comes with a number of themes to vary its look. Shown here is their Tenaya Lake theme, designed to match the user interface of OS X Yosemite.

Get KeyCue

Ergonis, the makers of KeyCue, offer a fully functional trial that you can download here.

Give KeyCue a whirl. Get quick access to handy keyboard shortcuts and save some of your precious time!